Strategy is an overall plan for achieving some goal or objective. Tactics are the details about how the strategy will be implemented. Marketing strategy, by extension, is an overall plan for achieving some explicit marketing goal or objective.
Marketing objectives are often, though not always, set in terms of sales volume (e.g. units sold) or sales revenues ($). Once the objectives are established, strategy is developed. The developed strategy might suggest that the objectives are either too ambitious or too modest, forcing change in either objectives or strategy.
Marketing strategy generally consists of three sequential decisions:
Very few strategies aim for mass markets. Most contemporary strategies target specifically identified segments of prospects. These may be defined in many ways: by the benefits the seek or by their demographic or geographic status, for example. Data underpin the targeting decision. What is the revenue potential? How committed are targeted customers to their current brands?
Positioning is about how you want your brand to be perceived by your targeted prospects in comparison to competitive offers. First, you must identify the competitive offers and their strengths and weaknesses relative to your offer. Then, you can decide how best to position against them. There are three widely adopted positioning strategies. 1. Low-price delivered by operational excellence driving down costs. 2. Customised offers based on an intimate understanding of customers’ particular requirements. 3. Product/service leadership based on continuous development and innovation.
Detailed marketing mix strategies are constantly changing as new technologies are developed that enable multi-lateral communications between customers, distributors and producers, and new forms of distribution channel are created.
Marketers mix various elements in different proportions to create a strong competitive brand position that will generate the sales volume or revenue objectives. Marketers often produce two marketing mixes: one aimed at pushing product into distribution channels, the so-called trade marketing mix; the other, called a consumer marketing mix, aimed at pulling customers into those channels to make purchases. Marketers build many different components into their marketing mixes: branding, sales, advertising, sales-promotion, public relations, packaging, website, online content, product development, pricing, social media, customer service, customer-facing processes, people skills, distribution intensity, logistics, to name but a few. However, the three core strategic decisions have remained constant: target market, positioning, marketing mix.
Written By | Dr Francis Buttle
